Perched Kestrel

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L
Canon 430EX + BB Handheld

1/1600 sec f/8 ISO 800

Near full frame. Levels and sharpening in CS6. NR on BG in Noiseware 5

118077

[Karl Egressy]

Nice looking back position,sharpness and DOF.
I wish she was just a little lower.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Karl. Lower in frame or lower on stick? I can try moving her down as real estate is easy to manipulate in this solid blue sky.

[gail bisson]

Comp is fine! I would prefer a less steep shooting angle as well.
I like the dainty, curved perch and how it starts at the LLC.
Good exposure. I would sharpen the wing feathers a touch more,
Gail

[Arthur Morris]

I am pretty sure that Karl meant that the bird needed to be down lower, i.e., closer to the earth. The angle of inclination here is too steep. And for the over the shoulder stuff, having the head parallel to the imaging sensor is very oten best; here it is turned to much towards us.

Sharp with a good use of d-o-f. EXP spot on. Nice feather detail even in the lightest tones.

[Ian Cassell]

Ah, I see. Thanks, Gail and Artie. Yes, the shooting angle was steeper than I would have liked, but these raptors do like to go to the highest spot, after all. Artie, please explain what you mean when you say the head is turned too much towards us. Do you mean from an aesthetic POV?

[Arthur Morris]

Yes, Ian. When the birds are either angled away from us or when you are right over the shoulder I find a square head angle most pleasing 97% of the time. 3% work well with the bird looking right down the lens barrel.

[arash_hazeghi]

good points mentioned above Ian, you may want to run some NR as the sky is a bit noisy

it's a handsome raptor and with patience you can get close to one on a lower perch

[Karl Egressy]

Thanks, Karl. Lower in frame or lower on stick? I can try moving her down as real estate is easy to manipulate in this solid blue sky.

Lower on stick. Sometimes it works if you go furter, to reduce the shooting angle.
It is a trade off, as your picture gets smaller.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Nice advise above, killer species and nice pose. Agree with Arash about the noisy sky and with Arthur about the HA. A very special image in any case.